Blood, Riches and Deceit, Not Necessarily In that Order Pt.1

The Game outside the Games

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The Early Campaign

One of the first interesting events was tracking down the Roman consultant who was coming to advise the town on setting up its arena and gladiatorial tournament system. We purloined a notebook purloined from the remains of Content Not Found: darius-3, who had an unfortunate encounter with some sort of two-headed beast in the mountain pass. Darius’s Notebook

A Brief Background

The campaign is set in what would otherwise be the middle period of the long decline of Rome. However due to a mysterious uprising in something, (what that something is heavily debated among intellectuals of the time) Rome as found itself upon a new wind. That something is the manifestation of magic in human hands. Being more organized and more powerful than any other nation around during this uprising, Rome was best able to harness this power, using it militarily to crush oncoming barbarian hordes, and to rebuke any rebellions in the empire. The origins of magic are heavily debated, and while, yes, magical creatures exist in the world they are rare and otherworldly (or other-plane-ly). Real world religions exist, and I leave it to you to decide if this is cause or coincidence, but these powers started manifesting themselves in humanity in the year 1 A.D. (One note: The rise of magic has caused more magical creatures to appear in our world, and has lead to the revival of the “old religion,” the Hellenistic pagan religions of the Romans and Greeks.) Because of the heavy dispute on its origins, especially to the more serious condemners of its origins the magically-affine usually keep their powers if not secret, then at least unmentioned.

Humanity is the dominant race. Civilization as we know it is human, and so it is in the campaign. That is not to say that Elves and Dwarves dont exist, they do, but as creatures of Nordic mythology. They are not present in society, at least if they are, they keep it hidden. It should be noted that other “races” living among humans is an extreme rarity, even rarer than magic.

So, the Roman Empire is once again in full tilt, currently involved in conquests from India to the Sahara to Holland. Enjoying a new golden age of prosperity and wealth. Vestivire is a small city in the middle of some the best vineyards in the empire, and is looking to extend its hospitality and pleasures to wealthy Roman vacationers